AUCAS - THE INSIDE STORY OF QUITO'S GREATEST TEAM

Last year I was in Ecuador, South America, to spend time
with a team called Sociedad Deportiva Aucas. Founded in 1945, and originally
owned by oil company Royal Dutch Shell, financial troubles have cost them
dearly in recent years, resulting in a dramatic fall from grace. They were floundering
in the third tier of the league system when I arrived, but had begun to benefit
from the backing of local businessman Ramiro Gordon and had ambitious plans to
return to the top.

Ecuador has two professional football divisions, La A and La B. Whilst both are
comprised of twelve teams and use the standard league format, the division
below is split into 19 regional leagues. The winners and runners up of the
regional leagues qualify for the zonal leagues, with the zonal winners entering
a national league to determine the overall champion that is promoted to La B.
It is an epic tournament that lasts almost an entire year and is notoriously
difficult to win, mainly due to the amount of games played. Trying to maintain
a squad focused and motivated for such an extended period of time requires
great skill, with managers constantly battling to reduce the number of injured
and fatigued players through the use of squad rotation.

The idea behind this league setup was that it would help semi-pro and amateur
teams, who have extremely limited finances, by reducing travelling times and consequently
costs. In reality, although this aspect was achieved, it actually made it much
harder for smaller teams to gain promotion; their smaller squads can't cope
with such an arduous and lengthy campaign, and if they manage to qualify for
the regional phase then they have to start travelling anyway.

It is in this division that Aucas had been stagnating for several years, unable
to push their way through and take the final step to promotion. Qualification
at the regional and zonal phases is not particularly difficult to manoeuvre,
but the previous season saw the team come unstuck at the national level, to the
immense dismay of their fans. This failed attempt was not accepted lightly and
an angry mob of ‘fans’ hurled stones, bottles and anything to hand at the
players and coaching staff, who were forced to take refuge in the changing
rooms for several hours under armed guard.

There is immense support and passion for this team and they regularly have higher
attendances than many first division clubs. They are also one of only several
teams in the entire country to own their own stadium and consequently have a
distinct advantage over amateur opposition. The downside of their professional
status is the incredible pressure and expectation that the team should qualify
through each phase with ease, including the final stage.

Upon arriving at the start of pre-season training I was informed that almost
the entire squad was made up of new signings. This is fairly common practice for
many teams in the lower divisions, although I did wonder how long it was going
to take for them to start playing with any type of understanding or cohesion. Jose
Vicente Moreno was the man in charge, an ex-player who displayed his goal
scoring talents at Liga de Quito in the 90's and had studied for his coaching
qualifications in Spain. His assistant, Luis Granda, had been a very successful
player for El Nacional and had also been an assistant manager at many top
division sides. Forming the rest of the coaching team were fitness coach Cesar
Benalcazar and goalkeeping coach Cesar Ramos. Both were hugely experienced and
talented and had been part of the coaching setup that travelled with the
national side to the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea.

Training took place in several locations and a typical week
would start with a match on Sunday morning. The whole squad would then have a
rest day on Monday to recover from the exertions of the previous day, although
any injured players would see the doctor to continue working on their
rehabilitation. Only the coaching staff would get together to discuss the match
performance from the day before and they would also plan the programme for the
coming week.

A morning training session in ‘La Carolina’, which is a vast
public park right in the heart of Quito, would take place on Tuesday and was
often led by Cesar Benalcazar. Wednesday was normally a double training day;
morning training at the Aucas complex in Chillogallo, which is a poor
neighbourhood in the south of the city, followed by an additional session in
the stadium in the afternoon. The stadium is adjacent to the complex and so the
coaching staff and players would eat together and socialise on a Wednesday afternoon
when they had a double session. This allowed for a relaxed and pleasant
ambience within the squad and led nicely into the afternoon session, which was
always purely football based. Jose Moreno and Luis Granda would work together
on team shape and set pieces, and the emphasis was on tactics rather than
fitness.

Thursday's training would be either at the military school
facilities, known as ESMIL, on the outskirts of the city, or at the Aucas
complex and Friday was again at the complex. Saturday morning would involve a
short session, normally a small sided game which was characterised by the
players dividing themselves into two teams. There was no discrimination or
racism within the team, but they always formed ‘blancos’ versus ‘negros’ for
the ‘big game’ and it was the most fun they had all week. The players would then
stay at the training ground for the rest of the day and after eating lunch they
would often go to the cinema in the afternoon, or participate in activities such
as table tennis, playing pool, or watching television. All squad members
selected for the match were required to sleep at the facilities, before going
direct to the match on Sunday, and Cesar Ramos was the ‘night watchman’ for
want of a better description. This is common practice in Ecuador and many other
South American countries, where there is a longstanding belief that this custom
focuses the players' minds on the upcoming match. It also allows the coaching
staff to monitor and supervise them the day before a game, to make sure that no-one
is doing anything they shouldn't be.

There was a priority placed on fitness work during the first few weeks of the
season, as is customary at all clubs during pre-season, with the coaching staff
well aware of the physical demands of the season ahead. Plenty of exercises
aimed at improving agility, sprinting, and stamina were used, along with basic
ball exercises in small groups and teams. The atmosphere was positive, the
training slowly but surely increasing fitness levels, and the new players were
beginning to integrate into the side.

Friendly matches were arranged and potential signings were talked about by the
management and sporting director. Several players were given trials and others
were allowed to train with the team to maintain fitness, despite not being
registered to a club. One of these was Omar de Jesus, a veteran 36-year-old
right back who had played at the club about a decade earlier. After amassing
almost 300 appearances for Aucas, between 1993 - 2002, he had gone on to play
for El Nacional and Barcelona Guayaquil before being released at the end of the
previous season. He was affectionately known as 'tio' and although he trained
only to improve his fitness, the coaching staff quickly realised that he was
still good enough to play regularly. He accepted their contract offer and it
appeared that this was to be the most surprising signing of Aucas' pre-season,
but the news was about to be eclipsed by the arrival of an Ecuadorian football
superstar.

Jaime Ivan Kaviedes is one of the
most famous footballers in Ecuador. Over the course of a career stretching back
to 1995, he has played in Italy, Spain, England, Argentina, Mexico and Ecuador.
He scored the crucial goal in a World Cup qualifier against Uruguay, which
allowed Ecuador to qualify for their first ever World Cup, and is still fondly
remembered for an overhead kick goal against Barcelona that was voted goal of
the Spanish season for 00/01. He is recognised as a star of the Ecuadorian game
but his life has not been without drama. It is widely known that he has battled
a drug problem for years and many people claimed that he is unreliable, bad for
team morale and past his best. Despite this he is still a big media attraction
and loved by his adoring fans.

Aucas decided that is was
worthwhile taking a chance on a potentially disruptive figure and were immediately
the talk of the town; his first training session in La Carolina park was
attended by hundreds of fans, along with every major television and radio
station reporter in the country. His team mates were shocked at the attention
suddenly thrust upon them and many of the younger players were in awe of
playing with their idol. Several experienced players such as Gustavo Figueroa,
Omar de Jesus and Wellington Sanchez gave him a warm welcome to the club; they
had played together previously for the national team and were able to take the
media focus in their stride.

After numerous interviews held up
the start of training (even the kit man got his five minutes of fame!) the
session began, but only after the coaching staff had asked the spectators and
members of the press to move back to allow them an area in which to work. All
eyes were on Kaviedes, but his teammates seemed more nervous than he did, as
no-one wanted to make a mistake in front of the national media. Small talk and
banter quickly settled the group into a positive working environment and a possession
game developed nicely; five or six players formed a circle and another player in
the centre tried to win it back. Deft touches, back heels and plenty of flair
were on show, and players, coaching staff, spectators and journalists all
thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

As the session came to its conclusion there was another media scramble to grab
a quick interview with the new 'star man', combined with a wave of rushing
spectators all wanting an autograph and photo with their idol. The rest of the
players were left to drink from their water bottles and stand watching the
show. Everything had begun well, spirits were high and there was a definite air
of optimism surrounding Aucas’ chances of promotion.

Pre-season form was encouraging, with several wins over higher placed teams,
including a victory against arch rivals Liga de Quito. The ‘Superclasico
Capitalino’ took place at Liga's training facilities and Liga's president,
Esteban Paz, declared that the first division missed their presence and hoped they
could make a swift return to top division action.

The squad initially contained 34 players, but many of the younger ones were sent
on loan to gain match experience and develop their skills. This meant that the
coaching staff had a manageable group of about twenty to work with, which allowed
for injuries and suspensions to occur without decimating the team. A preferred
starting eleven was taking shape, as was the formation that Jose Vicente Moreno
wanted to use.

The first official game of the season arrived and a crowd close to 11,000 spectators
turned up to watch 'El Papa Aucas' defeat Universidad San Francisco by a
scoreline of 2-0. A carnival atmosphere was provided by the fans, with plenty
of noise, colour and encouragement throughout. It was a satisfactory opening to
the season although plenty of work was still required to get the team playing
the type of flowing football desired. Nevertheless, the team had won, there
were encouraging signs of progress and fitness levels were increasing.

Ten games into the season and Aucas were in pole position in the table. They had
won all of their matches and attained the maximum 30 points available. No doubts
existed about whether the team would qualify for the next phase of competition;
it was just a matter of when they would be mathematically assured of their
passage. Concerns about the style of play still lingered, as a result of
several occasions where the team had struggled to defeat significantly weaker
opposition. Various changes were made to both personnel and formations during
this period to try and find a solution, but nothing seemed to gel as desired. However,
the team was definitely heading in the right direction and morale remained
high; the plan now was to maintain a winning attitude and continue working on
attacking fluidity. The push for promotion was underway and nothing was going
to stop this team from getting to La B.